Misconduct (FOI Ref 193/26)

Request

 This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I would like to request the following information, please, within 20 working days - 13 February.

The request relates to investigations and convictions of police officers working for your force from 3 March 2021 to 29 December 2025 for the following offence groups:

• Rape (all offences in the Sexual offences subclass of rape)
• Other sexual offences (all offences in the Sexual offences subclass of other sexual offences)
• Stalking and harassment (all offences in Violence against the person subclass of Stalking and Harassment)

And then also specifically for the following offence types within other sexual offences (I am aware these will be double counted):

• Indecent exposure (HOC 88/09)
• Voyeurism (HOC 88/10, 88/12, 88/13, and 88/14)

1) For the period 3 March 2021 to 29 December 2025 please provide the number of individual police officers working for your force who were investigated for the below criminal offences, and the total number of criminal investigations (i.e. if an individual was investigated on more than one occasion, I would expect the number of investigations to be higher than the number of individuals). Note: I am aware of anonymity concerns. If the number is between 1-4, please say <5, and if it’s 0, please say 0.

2) For the period 3 March 2021 to 29 December 2025, please provide the number of individual police officers working for your force who were charged, and the number who were convicted, for these offences. Please also provide the total number of charges and total number of convictions (i.e. if an individual was charged or convicted on more than one occasion, I would expect the total number to be higher than the number of individuals). Note: I am aware of anonymity concerns. If the number is between 1-4, please say <5, and if it’s 0, please say 0.

3) Please provide a table of the current working status with your force for all the individual officers who were convicted of an offence over the period by offence type. For example but not limited to:

4) If any of the officers with convictions for these offences in Q3 are still serving, did they receive any other form of sanction, and were their duties restricted either permanently or temporarily? Please provide details.

Response

Please find enclosed our response.

Please note that this data should be interpreted with caution.

Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that this data has been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request may be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting the data. 

The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of data which has relevance to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.  

1) For the period 3 March 2021 to 29 December 2025 please provide the number of individual police officers working for your force who were investigated for the below criminal offences, and the total number of criminal investigations (i.e. if an individual was investigated on more than one occasion, I would expect the number of investigations to be higher than the number of individuals). Note: I am aware of anonymity concerns. If the number is between 1-4, please say <5, and if it’s 0, please say 0.

2) For the period 3 March 2021 to 29 December 2025, please provide the number of individual police officers working for your force who were charged, and the number who were convicted, for these offences. Please also provide the total number of charges and total number of convictions (i.e. if an individual was charged or convicted on more than one occasion, I would expect the total number to be higher than the number of individuals). Note: I am aware of anonymity concerns. If the number is between 1-4, please say <5, and if it’s 0, please say 0.

*This is the total number of offences charged and therefore some represent multiple offences charged as part of one incident.

** Some cases are outstanding so there is not data in relation to charge etc.

3) Please provide a table of the current working status with your force for all the individual officers who were convicted of an offence over the period by offence type. For example, but not limited to:

4) If any of the officers with convictions for these offences in Q3 are still serving, did they receive any other form of sanction, and were their duties restricted either permanently or temporarily? Please provide details.

None are still serving.

It is important to note - We want our officers to uphold the highest of standards so the public has the utmost confidence in them. Any form of misconduct , harassment and abuse are simply unacceptable but when it is done by a police officer - who holds a position of power and someone the public should trust - it must be rooted out and eliminated. We must do everything we can to maintain public confidence and trust in policing. This will provide reassurance to the public that we mean it when we say we’ll do all we can to preserve and rebuild trust. It is important to note the force operates under the Police Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Behaviour. This includes challenging any inappropriate behaviour or action which would discredit the police service or undermine public confidence in policing.